1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a receiver for receiving broadcast signals such as digital audio broadcasts referred to as DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting).
2. Description of the Related Art
Radio receivers are configured to allow easily tuning in a broadcast radio wave with a simple operation. A tuning button or tuning switch installed in a radio receiver for instance, permits frequency information assigned to a particular broadcast station to be stored beforehand in the memory.
When the user presses the radio receiver tuning button or tuning switch, the frequency information assigned to the tuning button/switch that was depressed is called up, and based on this frequency information, operations such as tuning in the broadcast radio wave for the desired broadcast station and displaying the frequency information of the tuned-in broadcast radio wave on an LCD (liquid crystal display) are performed.
Therefore, if the frequency information assigned to a particular broadcast station is registered beforehand in the memory of the radio receiver, then the broadcast radio wave from the desired broadcast station can be received and tuned in by simply pressing the tuning button/switch and the audio from that broadcast station can be heard.
However, when frequency information assigned to a broadcast station was registered beforehand in the memory as described above, then a receivable broadcast radio wave (RF) had to be searched for, by for instance, rotating the tuning dial. Problems therefore occurred when the radio receiver was not at a fixed position, such as when using vehicle-mounted radio receivers and portable radio receivers, etc.
Radio broadcasts for instance are wide ranging broadcasts for a wide area, and regional broadcasts only for a particular area. Regional broadcasts for instance, in many cases offer traffic information or information valid only for a particular region. When a listener in a vehicle is currently passing through a particular region and wants to hear traffic information for that region, the listener may not know the frequency of the station broadcasting traffic information and so cannot easily hear traffic information for that region.
When a particular region, and the frequency assigned to the broadcast station transmitting broadcast radio waves receivable in that region are not known in advance, then easily, rapidly and accurately finding the desired regional program in advance is difficult.
In view of the above problems, it therefore an object of this invention to provide a receiver that clearly informs the user in advance, of receivable broadcast radio waves and allows speedy, accurate, and easy tuning of the desired broadcast radio waves to select the broadcast program.
To resolve the above mentioned problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiver comprising receive means for receiving broadcast radio waves including broadcast-related information which contains at least position information on a transmission site, display means, map display control means for displaying the display means on a map, information extraction means for extracting the broadcast-related information from the broadcast radio waves received by the receive means, and information display control means for displaying information, relating to the broadcast radio waves, on the map shown on the display means, at a position specified according to position information among the broadcast-related information extracted by the information extraction means.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the broadcast-related information contained in the broadcast radio wave received by the receive means is extracted by the information extraction means. Position information for specifying the position of the transmission site that transmitted the broadcast radio wave received by the receive means is contained in the broadcast-related information, and information related to the broadcast radio wave that was received is overlapped at a position on the map shown on the display means according to the position information.
The desired broadcast radio wave can be visually recognized based on information related to the broadcast radio wave displayed while overlapped onto the map shown on the display means, and the station can be tuned in.
Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiver comprising information storage means for storing information relating to a display position shown on the map accompanying with tuning information for the broadcast radio wave received by the receive means; command input receive means for inputting commands from the user specifying a position on the map displayed on the display means; and tuning control means for loading from the memory, tuning information matching the position on the map specified by way of the command input receive means and tuning in the broadcast radio wave based on the tuning information that was loaded.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the broadcast radio wave tuning information received by the receive means, and the display position information relating to the broadcast radio wave, for the map displayed on the display means, are matched and stored in the memory by the information storage means.
When receiving starts for example, in response to user instructions, the broadcast radio waves (band) are scanned for broadcast radio waves receivable at the current position. Information relating to a plurality of receivable broadcast radio waves (frequencies) is displayed while overlapped onto a map shown on the display means, and related display information is matched with the tuning information and stored in the memory.
When instructions input by the user that specify a position on a map shown on the display means are received by way of the command input receive means, the tuning information for the broadcast radio wave matching the information relating to the specified position on the displayed map, is loaded from the memory and the target broadcast radio wave is automatically tuned in by the tuning control means according to the tuning information that was loaded.
The user can thus visually determine the desired broadcast radio wave based on information relating to that broadcast radio wave and map shown on the display means, tune in that desired broadcast radio wave and can then listen to the broadcast program provided on the broadcast radio wave. In other words, even if the user does not know information such as the frequencies of receivable broadcast radio waves, a desired broadcast radio wave can still be automatically tuned in based on the display information shown on the display means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the receiver further comprises: position measurement means for measuring the receiver""s own current position by receiving a radio wave from an artificial satellite. The map display control means receives the current position supplied from the position measurement means and displays a map containing the current position on display means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the receiver has a GPS (Global Positioning System) as the position measurement means, for accurately measuring the receiver""s own current position, and a map containing this current measured position to be shown on the display means by the map display control means.
Thus, even a receiver for instance, installed in a vehicle moving across a comparatively wide area, can know the receivable broadcast radio waves at the current position and can tune in the desired broadcast radio wave. Receivable broadcast radio waves for a desired broadcast radio wave can furthermore be rapidly and accurately tuned in, with a simple operation.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the information display control means displays a mark indicating the position of the broadcast radio wave transmission site at a position on the map determined according to the position information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a mark indicating the position of the broadcast station of the received broadcast radio wave is displayed so as to show a position on a map according to position information extracted from the broadcast radio wave received by the information extraction means, and by the information display control means.
The desired broadcast radio wave can thus be selected visually, based on the position of the transmission site displayed by overlapping onto a map shown on the display means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the broadcast station name is contained in the broadcast-related information of that broadcast radio wave, and the information display control means performs display of the name of the broadcast station on a position on the map, determined according to the broadcast-related information extracted by the information extraction means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the broadcast station name of the broadcast radio wave is conveyed while contained in the broadcast-related information. This broadcast station name is displayed on a position on a map according to the position information extracted from the received broadcast radio wave by the information display control means and the information extraction means.
The desired broadcast radio wave can therefore be selected visually, by means of the display showing the position of the transmission site of the broadcast radio wave, and the broadcast station name of the broadcast radio wave sent from that transmission site.
According to another aspect of the present invention, identification information is contained in the broadcast radio wave for identifying whether or not each program from a plurality of broadcast programs multiplexed on broadcast-related information of the broadcast radio wave are regional programs for a particular region or not, and
the receiver comprises check means for determining whether to accept or reject each of the plurality of the broadcast programs as a regional program, based on the identification information from broadcast-related information extracted by the information extraction means, and
the information display control means shows a display at a position on a map according to position information indicating a regional program is being broadcast from the received broadcast radio wave.
According to another aspect of the present invention, identification information is contained in a broadcast radio wave for transmission for identifying whether or not each program from a plurality of broadcast programs multiplexed on broadcast-related information of the broadcast radio wave are regional programs for a particular region or not; and based on the identification information, check means determines whether a regional program is being broadcast.
When determined that a region program is being broadcast, the information display control means shows a display indicating a regional program broadcast, at a position on a map according to position information, from broadcast-related information extracted from the received broadcast radio wave.
The regional programs such as traffic information for a particular region can therefore be visually recognized from the radio waves of the broadcast and the desired regional program can be easily and speedily selected. The regional programs in an area being moved through can thus be repidly heard by the user when the receiver is mounted in a vehicle or when the receiver is carried as a portable unit while walking around.
According to another aspect of the present invention, identification information is contained in the broadcast radio wave for identifying whether or not each program name from a plurality of multiplexed broadcast programs on broadcast-related information of the broadcast radio wave, and each of the plurality of multiplexed broadcast programs are regional programs for a particular region, and the receiver comprises check means for determining whether or not each of the plurality of the broadcast programs is a regional program, based on the identification information from the broadcast-related information extracted by the information extraction means, and the information display control means displays a program name for a program determined to be a regional program by the check means, at the position on the map determined according to the position information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the program name of the program determined to be a regional program by the check means, is displayed on a map shown on a display means, at the position determined according to position information extracted from the broadcast radio wave.
The user is thus reliably informed without errors, about what regional programs of what name are broadcast by broadcast radio waves sent from which transmission site.
According to another aspect of the present invention, information storage means matches the tuning information of the radio broadcast wave of a program determined to be a regional program by the check means, with selection information for selecting the applicable regional program, and the display position on the map for displaying the program name and stores the above tuning information, the selection information and the display position in the memory and, tuning control means for loading the selection information and the tuning information matching a specified position on the map when the user specifies a program name display position shown on the map by using the command input receive means. The desired broadcast radio wave is then tuned in based on the tuning information loaded from the memory and the desired broadcast radio wave is selected based on the selection information that was loaded.
According to another aspect of the present invention, when the user specifies a position on a map displayed with the program name of a regional program by using the command input receive means, the tuning information and selection information stored in the memory corresponding to the display position for displaying the program name of a regional program are loaded from the memory. Based on this tuning information and selection information, the broadcast radio wave of the transmitted regional program is tuned and the desired regional program can be automatically selected and heard.
The regional program of a desired region can therefore be reliably selected and heard by a simple operation as described above. Therefore, when, for instance the receiver is mounted in a vehicle or when the receiver is carried as a portable unit while walking around, the regional programs in an area being moved through can be easily and reliably heard by the user
According to another aspect of the present invention, area information showing each service area for each broadcast program specified by program selection information is contained in the broadcast-related information of the broadcast radio wave and, the information display control means displays the service area for the regional program on a map shown on a display means, based on area information in the broadcast-related information extracted from the received broadcast radio wave by the information extraction means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, when the broadcast radio wave of a regional broadcast is received, the user can be clearly informed about what region that regional program broadcast corresponds to, and the user can therefore reliably select and listen to the program broadcast for the desired region.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an area name according to a receivable area is contained in the broadcast-related information of the broadcast radio wave, and the information display control means displays the area name of the broadcast-related information extracted by the information extraction means, on map information shown on the display means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an area name according to a receivable area extracted from the broadcast radio wave is displayed on map information shown on a display means. The user can therefore more clearly know receivable areas whose receivable broadcast radio waves are sent from transmission sites.